Obviously, it is well known that you can save a lot of money by simply eating all your meals at home, but sometimes, you want to go out for some excitement. Or, maybe you’re just out of food. Either way, restaurants can be fun. Husband and I went out Friday night. He worked late, and was “starving” and just didn’t want to wait for me to cook something. (Yes, we ended up waiting probably longer when you factor the table wait and then the food wait, but whose counting.) At first, he just wanted to call in the order, and pick it up on his way home, but I said that if we were having Mexican for dinner, I wanted a mojito, so we just met there.

One of the easiest ways to save money when eating out is to simply eat less. Restaurant portions are always 2 to 4 times larger than they should be, so if you can split your meal, you just saved 50% of the cost. Husband was raised an only child, and he never wants to share. Sometimes, I think he orders something that I wont like simply so we can’t share. So instead, immediately after we order, we scoot half to the side, to be boxed up, and taken home. You may say that left overs from a place can taste soggy, or greasy the next day, but I have a fix for that.

First, when you box it up, seperate the tomatoes and lettuce from any sandwich or burger. This will prevent your bun from going soft. Second, think of something else you can do with it. Whenever we go out for steak, I make steak and eggs the next morning. You can do the same thing with fajitas. Or turn your refried beans and rice into a burrito.

Sometimes, saving money means being creative, and working out of the box.